In 1982, Gerald Rubin and Allan Spradling reported the development of a system for achieving genetic transformation of Drosophila by injecting embryos with transposable element vectors (see Spradling and Rubin, 1982, Science, 218:341; and Rubin and Spradling, 1982, Science, 218:348; both of which are incorporated herein by reference). This work remains one of the seminal developments in Molecular Biology. Indeed, a quarter century later, the technology for transforming Drosophila remains substantially unchanged.
Yet, there is room for improvement. Widely variable success rates are observed with different nucleic acid preparations, and the process is labor intensive. In general, only a few embryos can be processed at one time, so that “high throughput” Drosophila transformation is not possible.
Efforts are currently underway to automate certain steps in the Drosophila injection process; researchers have indicated that they hope to be able to achieve injection rates as high as 350 embryos in 2.5 hours if automated systems can be developed.
Thus, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for efficient injection of Drosophila embryos without the need for automation. There is a need in the art for systems and methods for injection of Drosophila embryos that increases the survival rate and the transformation rate of injected embryos.